Some aspects of our corporate structure may discourage third-party takeovers and other transactions or prevent the removal of our current board of directors and management. Some provisions of our bye-laws may discourage third parties from making unsolicited takeover bids or prevent the removal of our current board of directors and management. In particular, our bye-laws prohibit transfers of our capital shares if the transfer would result in a person owning or controlling shares that constitute 9.9% or more of any class or series of our shares, unless otherwise waived at the discretion of the Board. In addition, our bye-laws reduce the total voting power of any shareholder owning, directly or indirectly, beneficially or otherwise, more than 9.9% of our common shares to not more than 9.9% of the total voting power of our shares unless otherwise waived at the discretion of the Board. These provisions may have the effect of deterring purchases of large blocks of our common shares or proposals to acquire us, even if our shareholders might deem these purchases or acquisition proposals to be in their best interests. In addition, our bye-laws provide for, among other things: • a classified Board, whose size is generally fixed and whose members may be removed by the shareholders only for cause upon a 66 2/3% vote; • restrictions on the ability of shareholders to nominate persons to serve as directors, submit resolutions to a shareholder vote and requisition special general meetings; • a large number of authorized but unissued shares which may be issued by the Board without further shareholder action; and • a 66 2/3% shareholder vote to amend, repeal or adopt any provision inconsistent with several provisions of the bye-laws. These bye-law provisions make it more difficult to acquire control of us by means of a tender offer, open market purchase, proxy contest or otherwise and could discourage a prospective acquirer from making a tender offer or otherwise attempting to obtain control of us. In addition, these bye-law provisions could prevent the removal of our current Board of Directors and management. To the extent these provisions discourage takeover attempts, they could deprive shareholders of opportunities to realize takeover premiums for their shares or could depress the market price of the shares. In addition, many jurisdictions in which our insurance and reinsurance subsidiaries operate have laws and regulations that require regulatory approval of a change in control of an insurer or an insurer’s holding company. Where such laws apply to us and our subsidiaries, there can be no effective change in our control unless the person seeking to acquire control has filed a statement with the regulators and has obtained prior approval for the proposed change from such regulators. Under these laws, control is typically presumed when a person acquires, directly or indirectly, 10% or more of the voting power of the insurance company or its parent, although this presumption is rebuttable. Therefore, a person may not acquire 10% or more of our common shares without the prior approval of the applicable insurance regulators. Investors may have difficulty in serving process or enforcing judgments against us in the U.S. We are a Bermuda company. In addition, many of our officers and directors reside in countries outside the U.S. All or a substantial portion of our assets and the assets of these officers and directors may be located outside the U.S. Investors may have difficulty effecting service of process within the U.S. on our directors and officers who reside outside the U.S. or recovering against us or these directors and officers on judgments of U.S. courts based on civil liabilities provisions of the U.S. federal securities laws whether or not we appoint an agent in the U.S. to receive service of process. ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS None. ITEM 2. PROPERTIES We lease office space in Bermuda, which houses our headquarters and principal executive offices, as well as in other locations throughout the U.S. and in the U.K., Australia, Ireland, Singapore and Switzerland. While we believe that our current office space is sufficient for us to conduct our operations, we may expand into additional facilities and new locations to accommodate future growth. To date, the cost of acquiring and maintaining our office space has not been material to us as a whole. 50